FLEXIBLE FRIEND PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW - Akarina
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PR EPAR E YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW
JANUARY 2019 EDITED BY HELEN GLENNY
FLEXIBLE
FRIEND
Royole has brought the world’s first both sides. It also has two cameras
foldable smartphone to market, that can be bent to capture objects
speeding past tech giants in the at unique angles. You can use the
flexible-screen innovation race. It’s phone in single or split-screen mode,
called the Royole FlexPai, and it’s and even the ‘spine’ of the phone
a 7.8-inch device that can be used houses functions.
flat as a tablet, or folded in half to Samsung offered a sneak peek of
roughly the dimensions of a normal their upcoming foldable phone at a
smartphone. developer conference in November
One feature of flexible screens is last year, and it’s rumoured that LG,
that they’re virtually unbreakable Huawei and Motorola are working on
(the Royole FlexPai can withstand their own versions. We’re interested
being folded and unfolded 200,000 to see if they live up to the hype…
times). When folded, users can Royole FlexPai
answer calls and take photos from From €1,338 (£1,210 approx), royole.com
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INNOVATIONS JANUARY 2019
1 2 3
4 5 6
WANTED
1 BULKY BRILLIANCE 2 GROW SMARTER 3 ON THE WATCH
This new VR headset is bulky and The Akarina 01 smart garden This minimalist Swiss-movement
expensive, but it sports a 170° field comes with efficient LED lights, so analogue watch tracks heart rate,
of view and high-density OLED you can cultivate herbs and sleep, steps and other fitness
A BIRTHDAY
displays with 5K resolution. It vegetables year-round. It has a metrics. Its low-energy design
detects your eyes and automatically super-clean design and uses only means that it’ll last 30 days on a British hi-fi company Cambridge through blind auditions, with
adjusts its lenses so you can switch liquid fertiliser, so it won’t muddy single charge, even while receiving Audio is celebrating its 50th no consideration for price,
TREAT
between users quickly. up your kitchen units. call and message notifications. birthday with an anything goes, specification or measurement. One
VRgineers XTAL Smart VR Headset Akarina 01 Oaxis Timepiece no-holds-barred attempt to produce important feature is the short signal
$5,800 (£4,580 approx), vrgineers.com £169.99, akarina.uk $179 (£142 approx), oaxis.com the best audio system it’s ever path, which reduces the chance of
made. The result is The Edge, a colour or distortion interfering with
£10,500 hi-fi system that looks slick the sound. In the Edge W power
4 SWEET DREAMS 5 WAKEY, WAKEY 6 RETRO TRACKER and sounds flawless. It consists of amp, there are just 14 components
For those who love sleep metrics This alarm clock mimics sunrise, Puma dabbled in high-tech exercise three units: Edge A, an integrated (typically, there’d be 30 or 40). The
but hate wearing watches to bed, waking you gradually, which tracking in 1986, but the chunky- amplifier; Edge NQ, a preamplifier casing is clean, with volume and
there’s now a sensor strip you can boosts mood and energy levels for computer-in-the-heel look didn’t and network player; and Edge W, input controls on a single knob.
place under your sheets. Beddit the day ahead. It can accompany catch on. The new edition replicates the power amplifier. While it’s a step away from the
sleep tracker will measure how the sunrise with birdsong, crashing that look, but the data it collects can The focus of this three-year company’s usual affordable product
well you’re sleeping and monitor waves, or, if you fancy it, the now be transferred via Bluetooth, engineering project was sound lines, it’s a fitting celebration of a
your breathing and snoring. Zzz. aggressive bleats of a herd of goats. rather than a 16-pin cord. first, everything else second. successful half-century.
Beddit Sleep Tracker Lumie BodyClock Shine 300 RS-Computer Shoe Cambridge Audio says that The Edge
£149, beddit.com £125, lumie.com €630 (£588), puma.com every component was selected £10,500, cambridgeaudio.com
32 33
INNOVATIONS JANUARY 2019
ENGINEERING
RESEARCHERS ARE
MAKING BACKPACKS
FOR BUMBLEBEES
Drones are already being used for smart farming, to
monitor crops and sense changes in the
environment, but most can only fly for 20 minutes
before their batteries run out. Bumblebees, on the
other hand, fly for hours and are capable of carrying
loads equal to their bodyweight. Researchers at the
University of Washington have developed
backpacks for bumblebees that allow them to carry
sensors while they go about their day’s foraging.
The backpack weighs 102 milligrams and consists
of a tiny chip loaded with a small, rechargeable
battery that has enough juice for seven hours of use.
The backpack has built-in sensors for monitoring
temperature, humidity and light intensity. Because
GPS is too power-intensive for the small battery, the
backpacks are kitted out with receivers that
communicate with antennas in the environment to
triangulate the bees’ positions.
The information gathered
While the backpacks will be a noticeable weight When the bees come back to their nest at the end by the bees could provide
for the bumblebees, they’re lighter than the weight of the day, the researchers can upload the data new ways to monitor
of the pollen and nectar that bees often carry back they’ve collected and wirelessly charge the agriculture and the
environment, and also
to their hives. The researchers were also careful backpacks, ready for another day of nectar- and offer fresh insight into the
when handling the bees. information-gathering. lives of the insects
H E A LT H The tiny
wearable is SPACE San Francisco-based start-up Orbit Fab has taken a step
about the size
WORLD’S SMALLEST WEARABLE
towards building the first fuelling stations in space. The
of a Smartie
PETROL STATIONS
and can be company recently sent an experiment to the ISS, to test a
worn on the method of fluid transfer that could soon be used to refuel
fingernail, or
GUARDS AGAINST SKIN CANCER
satellites in orbit. The experiment involves two ‘tankers’, one
JOHN ROGERS GROUP/NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, ORBIT FAB
even on a hat
IN SPACE?
or sunglasses of which was launched filled with water. Onboard the ISS, the
water will be transferred back and forth between the full
tanker and the empty one. Tests will explore how the valves
This solar-powered, virtually indestructible worldwide. Right now, people don’t know how and pumps work, and examine the effects of weightlessness
wearable measures UVB and UVA light to help users much UV light they are actually getting,” said on slosh dynamics.
avoid the damaging effects of the sunshine. It was dermatologist Dr Steve Xu, who co-authored Right now, the amount of fuel onboard a satellite when it’s
developed by researchers at Northwestern Medicine the research. launched determines how long it can stay operational. If
and Northwestern Engineering, and can even record The wearable can measure three wavelengths of satellites could be resupplied with fuel, they would be able
light exposure in the water – perfect for long days light simultaneously. “Being able to split out and to function for longer, allowing us to move away from
playing at the beach. separately measure exposure to different disposable satellites. Orbit Fab faces challenges setting
Sunlight passes through a window in the wavelengths of light is really important,” said Prof up this service: it requires launching large quantities
wearable, then strikes a tiny photodetector. This John Rogers, who leads the research group. “UVB is of several different types of heavy fuel into orbit.
produces a minute electric current that’s the shortest wavelength and the most dangerous in Also, pumping fuel doesn’t work in
proportional to the intensity of the light. The terms of developing cancer. A single photon of UVB microgravity the same way as it
associated charge is stored, and that data is passed light is 1,000 times more erythrogenic, or redness- does on Earth, as the fuel is harder
wirelessly to the user’s phone. The device inducing, compared to a single photon of UVA.” to measure and moves around
communicates with the user’s phone to access Designed for more than just tracking sun exposure, unpredictably in its tank.
weather and UV index information, and alerts them the device can also be used to measure white light
if they’ve been in the sun for too long. for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or in hospitals You probably won’t be
able to buy coffee and
“UV light is ubiquitous and carcinogenic. Skin to monitor blue light phototherapy for newborns a pasty at Orbit Fab’s
cancer is the most common type of cancer with jaundice. service station
34 35
INNOVATIONS
HEATING UP 2 3
The cold weather’s hitting
its peak. Here’s what
the tech world can offer
us in the fight against the
winter chills…
1
BE SMUG IN THE SNOW FEELING HOT (OR COLD)
Blazewear’s thick insulation keeps This smart bracelet was designed
you toasty on cold winter days. But by MIT graduates to stimulate your
when it’s seriously chilly, switch on thermoreceptors. It delivers waves of
the battery-powered heat pads located heat or cold to the high-density nerves
in the back and chest, and it’ll feel in your wrist, making you feel warmer
like you’ve stuffed your jacket with or cooler without changing your core
hot water bottles. Plus, you can charge body temperature. It claims to be able
your phone off the battery pack. to change your perceived temperature
Instagram snow pics, here we come! by 5°C in either direction.
Blazewear Explorer Heated Jacket Embr Wave
From £199.99, blazewear.com $299 (£240 approx), embrlabs.com
4 5
HEAT SEEKER GOODBYE, COLD TEA SLEEP TIGHT
This attachment turns your smartphone Fill this travel mug with your tea This dual-zone climate-controlled
into a high-quality thermal imaging or coffee, let it know your ideal ‘smart layer’ slips inside your duvet
camera, allowing you to easily check temperature via the app, and it will cover, and lets you and your partner
where you might be losing heat from your notify you when your cuppa’s perfect set your preferred temperatures. So if
house. With it, you can find out whether for drinking. You can also set the you’re feeling chilly, warm air will be
chunks of insulation need to be replaced, temperature by rotating a dial on the blown gently throughout your side of
or if your home has water damage. mug, so you don’t need to use your the bed. The smart layer also contains
And once you’ve made sure your home phone when your hands are gloved up. openings to allow any humidity to
is thermally efficient, you can use the Best of all, it keeps it at your required escape. If that wasn’t clever enough,
device to cheat in a game of hide-and- temperature for two hours, so you can once you’ve installed it, your bed will
seek. Don’t worry, we won’t tell. enjoy every last drop. inflate to make itself every morning.
Flir One Pro Ember Travel Mug Smartduvet
From £370, flir.co.uk £159.95, ember.com From $279 (£220 approx), smartduvet.com
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